it just means time
by Whovian overload River Song
Summary: "Look there," she said so motionlessly that he thought maybe the words had come from the wind and not her throat. She didn't point or even gesture with her head, her arms steady around the sling that held Lia. "By the other gate." PART FOUR- takes place after "sister"


The people of Darillium were not what River Song considered traditional when it came to the etiquette around newborn babies and toddlers. Traditional was saying 'congratulations', and 'just wait for the terrible-twos' while laughing warmly at a memory—general Earth manners. Traditional for Darillians, River had discovered the hard way, was plucking the newborn from its mother's arms and passing it around the group like sharing a neat picture.

River remembered vividly her horror when she'd run down to the market with a one-month-old Clara in a little sling across her back. It wasn't that she hadn't left the house with the baby before, but this was the first time she'd run into people. She was in the middle of paying for some eggs when she felt Clara being lifted out of her sling by the small group in the queue behind her. There had been so many hands grabbing for her baby that River ended up punching the closest person in the face, who happened to be the store clerk. The Doctor had taken weeks to iron things back out and explain to both the clerk and to River about their cultural differences.

This baby-grabbing tradition occurred with Clara almost every time they left the house and resulted in a change of tactics when Alsolia came along. River rarely left the house with her second daughter in the first few months after she was born, and when she did, she didn't go to anyplace that remotely suggested a crowd.

Admittedly, this had been a factor for River and the Doctor agreeing to get a dog.

Their eight-month-old currently stared at the large, furry creature in front of her. Its nose was investigating her tiny, socked feet with interest. A fat, pink tongue dampened her foot, to which the infant voiced a complaint to her mother via two short whines and one longer whimper.

"It's alright, Asolia. It's just the dog," River hummed, kissing the top of the baby's head. Asolia sat on the floor safely in her mother's lap, however, River's sanctuary was not proving effective against this new creature who was so invasive trying to getting a good sniff of her.

Asolia's older sister came to the rescue, coming up behind the dog and giving it a pat on the head which was enough to take its attention away from the baby.

Their father, who watched from the settee nearby, frowned— a real one, not his default expression. "River, are you sure getting a Newfoundland was a good idea? He's so… big." Admittedly, seeing a 65 kg mass of animal next to his youngest daughter who was over eight times smaller wasn't the most relaxing sight.

"We've had Yogi for a week and now you mention that you want something smaller?" His wife cocked an eyebrow at him.

"He hasn't had much interaction with Lia before."

"Which is why we agreed to introduce them like this," River finished.

"You're not going to make him go back, are you?" Clara asked from the floor. Her arms were slung around the dog's shoulders as she received licks from him.

"Of course not, sweetie," River assured, glancing at the Doctor as to say, You'd better not even think about ruining our daughter's joy.

He swallowed as the dog turned it's huge face back towards the baby. Asolia stared accusingly at it, still not convinced that this creature was good news. Yogi sniffed around her feet once more and started licking her hand.

Any pets a Darilian might own almost certainly disappeared during the twenty-four year night. Most native animals hibernated, migrated to the light side of the planet, or simply laid their eggs and died. Dogs were a rare sight. In fact, they weren't really a sight at all, lest human tourists brought them along. The Doctor and River didn't consider themselves tourists after living there for over ten years now, though their neighbors did find them odd for living on the dark side of the world voluntarily.

The Doctor was the one to take the dog out for walks, for the most part. According to him, the huge Newfoundland actually scared most of the people he walked by and made them cross over to the other side of the street. River had a feeling that this could be the solution to her problem with baby-grabbing.

Today, River put on a brave face and dawned a sling before scooping up a still bewildered Lia and placing her in it. Clara helped her father get the leash on Yogi, and the four of them headed for the park.

"We don't have to be long if this doesn't work," the Doctor had said assuringly.

River gave a short nod, her guard up the moment they were outside. She went quiet when she was like this and it was probably not a good idea to make small talk lest you talked over a suspicious sound River was trying to listen to. A younger Doctor might have called this her assassin mode, but this Doctor was at least wise enough never to call it that aloud—River didn't appreciate reminders that her training still manifested all these decades later.

River glanced at her daughters, checking to make sure they didn't pick up on her uneasiness. Asolia placidly sucked on a pacifier, quite calm for the moment inside the sling across River's chest. Clara bounced along next to the dog who was so big he took only one step for every three Clara did. The girl's head was just about level with Yogi's, though River had assured her husband that the, unlike their daughters, the dog wouldn't grow bigger.

The walk was short as it always was—the Doctor had insisted on living close to a park when they'd moved just over a year ago. Street lights lit the walkway that led to the playground, though only every 50 feet or so, leaving dark patches in the path. Darillians had better night vision than most species who lived in the local solar system, so the streetlights were mostly just for tourists and show.

The park was empty.

It usually was since there weren't many children under the age of ten then lived around this area. Most of the Darillian teens liked to congregate around the shops and sometimes the river nearby.

"Can we let Yogi off leash?" Clara asked once they were all inside the gates of the playground. "Please, Mummy?"

River gave a short but firm nod. The dog already had a habit of following Clara around the house, so River didn't have too much worry that he'd wander off.

Clara beamed and took the leash off Yogi before running with him towards the swing set. River and the Doctor followed at a walk.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked slowly. He was used to her apprehension that appeared in public places, but she seemed tenser than he expected her to be for an empty park.

"Look there," she said so motionlessly that he thought maybe the words had come from the wind and not her throat. She didn't point or even gesture with her head, her arms steady around the sling that held Lia. "By the other gate."

The Doctor looked slowly to where she said. A broad masculine looking figure stood, leaning against the metal fencing. "They're probably just a local. It is a public park."

"He's not Darillian," River muttered, still not looking. She was focused on Clara, who was already swinging with Yogi puttering around under her feet.

"We're not Darillian either," he pointed out, looking back at her. "Maybe he's visiting."

"He's staring at Clara," her tone was slightly more irritated as if she were somehow challenging the right this stranger had to even lay eyes on her daughter.

"She's five. The locals aren't used to kids around here, remember?"

"He's not local," she reminded icily.

"Right..." the Doctor glanced back at the stranger, certain that is was just his imagination that the man had moved closer. "Bit of an assumption that anyone who isn't local is ill-intentioned, though."

River deflated slightly, realizing that she did sound coarse. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, my love."

They arrived at the swing set. Clara didn't seem to be having any trouble keeping her swing in motion, but the Doctor got behind her and started pushing her anyways. Yogi moved to sit next to the Doctor's legs looking as pleased as Newfoundland could look, tongue out and all. He didn't seem to mind the chilly night air, but in fairness, he did also have a permanent thick fur coat.

Asolia was bundled up in long sleeves and a blanket from the house—she always protested any kind of jumper but seemed fine with the blanket provided it had a pretty pattern on it and she had enough arm room to move about. Infant timelords were picky about these things, or so the Doctor said.

Regardless of not being able to talk, Lia was the most opinionated baby River had ever met, surpassing even her sister at her age. From clothes to sippy cups to which parent sang her to sleep, she had a preference for everything. It wasn't so difficult to get the blue cup from the cupboard instead of the red one—River appreciated that making her daughter happy was as simple as that for the time being. The hard part was that the baby's preferences seemed to change every week, resulting in many fits of crying until her parents caught onto the paradigm shift.

River had adapted herself over the months to Asolia's rapid changes of mind. She was better than she used to be at predicting what the baby wanted on a given day and would now dash for a new blankie at the mere crease of her daughter's brow.

Lia wasn't sure what she thought of the enormous animal sitting by her father's legs. She stared at it from the sling so intensely that the Doctor would have sworn she was glaring if babies were capable of such a thing

"She's really taking after you, isn't she?"

River looked up at the Doctor's question, having been watching Clara protectively. "Sorry, what?"

"Asolia. She's glaring at the dog and she looks just like you."

River looked down at the baby who had indeed locked eye on the dog. "Babies don't glare."

"Sure about that?" he teased.

She didn't answer that, eyes resting back on Clara with the same intensity they had before. The Doctor thought perhaps he had said something wrong with how quiet she'd gone until he realized someone was heading towards them from the other side of the park.

It was the man from before but he now had a child trailing along behind him. Had the child always been there? It occurred to the Doctor that River had already noticed them approaching; Really, how did she do that with her back to them?

The Doctor could see that the child seemed to a young boy old a few years older than Clara, maybe about seven. The park was too dark for him to make out any details about the man except that he looked strikingly human.

River was growing tenser with their approach like a spring coiling tighter and tighter. The Doctor was sure River would snap on them if they took one step closer.

It was in the last few steps that she did.

The pair behind River stepped into the light just long enough for the Doctor's recognition to click into place, but not long enough for him to tell River that it wasn't a stranger coming up behind her.

Instead, the not-stranger made the mistake of reaching for River and sliding his hand down her arm. He managed to say, "Now which one is thi—" before a blaster slammed into his chest and fired.

The reaction was slower than River usually was, but in fairness, she'd had to safely get her gun out from where she'd hidden it in Lia's sling and turn the safety off. Still, River chided herself silently for it as she leveled the gun at the body, now collapsed in a heap in front of her.

"You killed Uncle Jack!" the little boy cried, staring in horror between the man on the ground and the gun in River's hand.

River stared wide-eyed at the boy. "What did you call him?"

"Uncle Jack," he repeated in a deflated manner. "You shot him! You said no guns allowed in the house but you shot him and now he's dead."

"Mummy," Clara called from the swing. "Why'd you shoot Uncle Jack?"

River couldn't reply to either child, finding any words she tried to make stuck in her throat.

Uncle Jack. The boy called him Uncle Jack just like Clara did.

The Doctor helped Clara off the swing and the two of them came up behind River with the dog following. "Don't worry," the Doctor said to the children, "He doesn't stay like that for long."

"I know," sighed the boy.

River swallowed.

"You look like me," Clara looked sideways at the kid in front of her. "What's your name?"

"N—"

"Don't tell them your name."

All eyes turned to the source of the voice that had just groaned out the order. Captain Jack Harkness tiredly lifted himself from the ground, managing to stand up and dust himself off. He glared at River. "I forgot how jumpy you are this young."

"Young?" River echoed, voice quiet.

Jack ignored the dumbfounded woman in favor of the equally dumbfounded boy. "She's not allowed to know your name."

"But she knows my name. She named me," argued the boy.

"Not yet she hasn't," Jack explained, which only made River tenser. "I'm afraid I've brought you to the wrong version. You haven't been born yet."

"Born?" The Doctor echoed, voice as quiet as his wife's.

"Make up a name," Jack added. "You can be Jack today."

"But my name's not Jack," said Not-Jack.

Clara looked at her parents who were shocked into silence, starting to get annoyed that no one was explaining anything. "Who are you?" She asked Not-Jack, resolving to get the answer herself.

Not-Jack looked at Captain Jack for permission to answer. Jack nodded, knowing that this spoiler had already been, well, spoiled.

"I'm your little brother," said Not-Jack.

"I don't have a little brother," Clara glared.

"You will," said Not-Jack.

"But you're older than me. Daddy said that it only works the other way and that I only get little siblings, not big ones."

"I'm from your future, I think," Not-Jack looked almost as confused as Clara did, but as he said this out loud both children started to finally understand.

"Oh!" Clara's frown melted away. "How old are you?"

"Don't answer that," Jack interrupted.

"72!" Not-Jack giggled, delighted by getting to make things up.

Clara looked up at her parents again, not quite getting why they were still staring. "Mummy, are you going to have another baby?"

"I…" River still couldn't find her words, clinging to Asolia like someone might try to snatch her at any moment. "I thought we were stopping at two."

Not-Jack deflated slightly at River's words, slightly balked at the idea that River only had him to keep out of the way of a paradox.

The Doctor coughed a little as River tucked her gun away. "Jack, why do you have… why isn't he with...er…" He wasn't sure how to phrase the question without asking for spoilers or alarming River more. "Why are you here."

"Obviously I was looking for you guys," Jack sighed.

"With a vortex manipulator," the Doctor pointed out, not liking the implications that a time travel device was needed to return their son to them.

Their son. Well, that was certainly something to take in.

"Look Doc, you know I can't really tell you more than that. I got the date wrong is all, so the two of us will be out of your way—"

"You're just going to hit and run us with a spoiler as big as this?" River hissed.

Jack flinched slightly. "Well, I can't sit here and explain every detail, can I? The longer I stay, the more… oh, how do you put it."

"Time-y wime-y?" Clara supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, thanks kiddo. The more 'time-y wime-y it gets.'" Jack finished. "We really should just go."

River sighed, her annoyance radiating off of her. "Let us help you set to coordinates since you to obviously can't do it right."

"No. Nope. You're not allowed to know where I'm going."

Both River and the Doctor stopped short at this. It wasn't hard for their minds to go to a dark place, even when there was a light one waiting for them in twelve (earth) years time.

"Ugh, relax you two." Jack rolled his eyes. "Really, you of all people should understand spoilers. I'll see you later. Sorry about this, kid." He added, taking Not-Jack's hand.

The two chronologically-displaced boys dematerialized with a zap, leaving the relatively linear Songs to stand there in full consternation.

"River?" The Doctor asked quietly.

She looked over at him, eyes still wide with panic.

"It's not going to be soon. I mean… it doesn't have to be soon. It doesn't have to be until you're ready."

She swallowed and looked down at Asolia who had somehow fallen asleep through all of the commotion. She wasn't ready for Lia not to be her youngest baby. She wasn't ready for her babies to get older and that boy... that boy was apparently her youngest and had been older than both her daughters. Clara would be a teenager to him, or almost depending how much older than him she was. Is.

River had never even tried to think about Clara as a teenager. Every time she tried she just thought of time passing and time passing meant endings and endings meant… well, endings meant things that she couldn't bear thinking about.

And even worse was their hourglass ticking away in the back of her head. It hadn't been so bad before they had the girls, but twelve years wasn't enough anymore. Twelve years would make Clara seventeen when the sun rose and Asolia only thirteen. There were nights when River was so worried she asked the Doctor to make her forget their time was limited, just so she could fall asleep.

"So, am I going to get a little brother?" Clara asked.

"I believe so," said the Doctor who was still watching his wife carefully. Her thoughts were apparent on her face.

"When?"

"Not for a little while, my star."

"A few months?"

"More like a few years," he murmured, River nodding slowly at that, though her stomach sunk lower at the thought. How could they have another baby with their time so short? That boy would be so young when the sun rose, perhaps not yet even in his double digits.

"Mummy?" Clara tugged on her shirt.

River looked down at her daughter's perfectly innocent, round face and took a deep breath. "Yes, my love?"

"Can we take Yogi when we go to town?"

River blinked at the change of topic, glancing at the dog who still sat obediently by the Doctor. Whatever hesitance she had had about the dog and crowded places seemed so trivial compared to what she'd just found out. "Um… sure. I don't see why not."

Clara smiled and skipped over to the dog to put his leash back on. "Can we go back now? I'm kinda cold."

Her parents nodded and the lot of them started the short walk back to the house.

"You know," the Doctor murmured as they left the park, "I think we'll be able to handle a dog quite well."

"It's not the dog I'm worried about handling," River murmured.

He sighed and wrapped his arm around her. He could feel her tense shoulders relax just slightly at his touch. Her eyes were fixed on the baby in her arms, walking as though any wrong movement might wake her.

"River?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, knowing he was going to try to say something sweet to cheer her up. She wasn't sure she could ever let this feeling go, no matter what he said. "What?"

"We still have time."

She sighed. "Not enough, Doctor."

"You know, a very clever, brilliant, wise woman once told me happiness just meant time. A little time."

River wanted to glare at him but instead found a lump forming in her throat. "Am I criminal for wanting more?"

"No," he said calmly. "But we're happy, aren't we?"

She finally looked over at him and though her voice shook a bit, it was earnest. "The happiest I've been in my life, sweetie."

He smiled softly. "You may not believe it completely, but that's not going to change. At least not if I have anything to do with it." He reached for her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. "I promise."

"You have a way with promises," she breathed. "And not always a good one."

"Some promises are more important than others. And nothing is more important to me than you."

"And me!" Clara chimed in.

"Yes, and you," the Doctor echoed.

River said nothing but squeezed her husband's hand. It didn't change much, but she knew at least that he meant what he said. She still wasn't quite used to certainly, even after twelve years of it. But here he was: her Doctor looking so certain that he could keep this promise that she might just have to let him try.


End file.
